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Thread: Antyane Robinson - Pennsylvania Death Row

  1. #21
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    Cumberland County DA to challenge death-penalty reprieve granted by governor

    CARLISLE -- Gov. Tom Wolf's moratorium on the death penalty has already been challenged in the higher court, and Cumberland County's district attorney may be joining the fight.

    On the day that Wolf issued a temporary reprieve of the pending execution of convicted Carlisle killer Antyane Robinson, Cumberland County District Attorney David Freed said he will either file his own challenge, or he will see if he can join the one already pending in the state Supreme Court, which was filed out of Philadelphia County.

    "Our position is it's an abuse of power by the governor," Freed said. "It's been challenged and the Supreme Court is considering it."

    Robinson was convicted in 1997 of shooting and killing Rashawn Bass, 22, of Susquehanna Township. Bass was the new boyfriend of Robinson's ex-girlfriend, Tara Hodge, whom Robinson shot in the head in the same incident. Hodge, however, survived the shooting.

    Freed argued there is nothing about this case that warrants a reprieve.

    "It's been issued because (Wolf) doesn't like the death penalty," Freed said.

    The challenge currently pending in the state Supreme Court revolves around condemned prisoner Terrance Williams, who had been scheduled for execution in March for the tire-iron beating death of another Philadelphia man more than 30 years ago. Williams' case was the first reprieve granted by Wolf.

    Also, York County District Attorney Tom Kearney has asked Wolf to allow the execution Hubert L. Michael Jr., who was convicted of kidnapping and murdering 16-year-old Trista Eng in 1993.

    Jeff Sheridan, press secretary for Gov. Wolf, countered Freed's argument and said the temporary reprieves, now granted to five inmates, have nothing to do with the governor having sympathy for anyone on death row.

    "They have been convicted of heinous crimes and should be held accountable and receive the harshest penalties," Sheridan said. "The governor's sympathies lie with the victims' families."

    But he said the death-penalty system is flawed, and the reprieves have been granted until the bipartisan Pennsylvania Task Force and Advisory Committee on Capital Punishment has a chance to submit a report to the governor addressing the issue.

    While the state Supreme Court case regarding the reprieves is still pending, Sheridan pointed out "the governor has the constitutional authority to issue temporary reprieves."

    There are three other inmates awaiting the death penalty with cases out of Cumberland County. They are:

    * Seifullah Abdul-Salaam,
    * Mark Spotz,
    * And William Housman.

    Freed said all three are at different appeal stages and will likely not be up for execution soon.

    http://www.pennlive.com/news/2015/12...obinson_t.html

  2. #22
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    Deadlock on Pa. Supreme Court sinks death row inmate’s bid to use Porngate scandal to gain his freedom

    By Matt Miller
    Penn Live

    A 2-2 deadlock on the state Supreme Court is blocking an inmate who is on death row for a Cumberland County murder from using the Porngate scandal and former Justice J. Michael’s Eakin’s involvement in it as a lever to gain his freedom.

    At issue was Antyane Robinson’s claim that Eakin’s receipt of inappropriate emails, including some that were “racist,” cast doubt on the fairness of prosecution for and the handling of his appeals following his conviction for a 1996 slaying in Carlisle.

    Justices Kevin M. Dougherty and Sallie Updyke Mundy rejected Robinson’s claims that Eakin’s involvement in Porngate, which ended with the justice’s resignation in March 2016, merits another look at the propriety of his conviction and death sentence.

    Justices Christine L. Donohue and David N. Wecht drew the opposite conclusion.

    They supported Robinson’s argument that the Porngate emails Eakin received constitute newly discovered evidence that should revive Robinson’s latest legal challenge to his death sentence. They urged that the case be sent back to county court for more consideration.

    However, Donohue wrote in her opinion that the state attorney general’s office, not the county district attorney’s office, should be tasked with contesting Robinson’s latest appeal.

    Too many members of the DA’s office, including DA Skip Ebert, supported Eakin when he was beset by the Porngate allegations for the county prosecutors to be allowed to keep representing the commonwealth in Robinson’s case, Donohue found.

    She noted that Ebert and other members of the office received some of the same unsolicited email “blasts” that were sent to Eakin.

    Only four justices considered the Robinson appeal. Justices Max Baer and Debra Todd and Chief Justice Thomas G. Saylor, did not participate in that review. All three were on the high court with Eakin when the Porngate scandal broke in 2015.

    Justice Doughert wrote the opinion urging denial of Robinson’s appeal.

    The emails involved in Porngate were sent decades after Robinson’s murder trial, Dougherty noted. Robinson, who is black, was convicted by a county jury of breaking into his ex-girlfriend’s Carlisle apartment, shooting her in the head, then shooting her new boyfriend seven times while he was in the shower. The boyfriend died. The ex-girlfriend survived.

    Robinson’ case “is not referenced in the (Porngate) emails; and the content does not reflect any invidious discrimination or bias in any court case,” Dougherty wrote. “In my opinion, the emails are simply not facts upon which (Robinson’s) belated claim of a due process violation can be predicated.”

    Dougherty noted the state Court of Judicial Discipline concluded there was “no evidence that Justice Eakin ‘in his written judicial opinions, ever demonstrated any overt bias due to race, gender, ethnicity or sexual orientation of a litigant or a witness’.”

    The request to remove the DA’s office from litigating Robinson’s appeals isn’t justified, either, Dougherty concluded.

    https://www.pennlive.com/news/2018/1...s-freedom.html

  3. #23
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    In today's United States Supreme Court orders, Robinson's petition for writ of certiorari was DENIED.

    Lower Ct: Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, Eastern District
    Case Numbers: (720 CAP)
    Decision Date: December 14, 2018

    https://www.supremecourt.gov/search....c/18-8848.html

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